Is That Really Sexual Harassment? The Effect of a Victim's Sexual Orientation on How People View a Sexual Harassment Claim.

In four experiments and a meta-analysis, the present research examined how the sexual orientation of a victim affected the perceived legitimacy of sexual harassment claims. Working from prototype theory, the researchers hypothesized that because lesbian women deviate from the prototype of a sexual harassment victim, people would be less likely to perceive sexual harassment claims as legitimate when the victim was a lesbian woman as compared to a heterosexual woman. Although Experiment 1 yielded results congruent with the hypothesis, Experiment 2 and Experiment 3 did not. A meta-analysis conducted to assess effects of sexual orientation across all studies was not significant (g = -.06, z = -1.20, p = .23). The impact of victim prototypicality on perceptions of sexual harassment claims is discussed.

Sex on the Screen: A Content Analysis of Free Internet Pornography Depicting Mixed-Sex Threesomes from 2012-2020.

Viewing online pornography is common among US adults, with mixed-sex threesome (MST) videos being one of the top 10 most popular categories of pornography for both men and women. The current content analysis applied sexual script theory to understand the themes present in these mixed-sex threesome videos. Independent coders viewed a total of 50 videos (25 MMF and 25 FFM) at each timepoint (2012, 2015, 2020) and coded for different sexual behaviors and themes in each video. By examining both same-sex (female-female, male-male) and other-sex (female-male) behaviors, as well as themes of aggression and sexual initiation in different videos and across three timepoints, it was determined that other-sex behaviors are more common in MST videos than same-sex behaviors. Same-sex behaviors between two female actors were more common than same-sex behaviors between two male actors. Aggression was a common theme in videos, with male actors being more aggressive on average than female actors. Most of these trends did not change across 8 years, suggesting that the impacts of traditional sexual scripts are pervasive in pornography, even in current online content. Important implications for both researchers and clinical professionals are discussed.

Examining Variations in Participation and Outcomes of Consensual and Nonconsensual Extradyadic Behavior among Ashley Madison Users.

Despite the abundance of studies investigating individual differences associated with extradyadic behavior (EB), nearly all have adopted retrospective measures in which the data is likely plagued by recall biases. In addition, few studies have explored individual differences or outcomes associated with EB between those with consenting and nonconsenting primary partners. Thus, the current study investigated the extent to which Ashley Madison users participated in a wide range of EBs, whether age, gender, and sexual identity predicted participation, and the extent to which outcomes were impacted by partner consent. The results from 1460 adults (962 men, 498 women) revealed that users reported engaging in three categories of behaviors: sexual/explicit, technology/online, and emotional/affectionate behaviors and that women and those older in age reported participating in EBs more frequently than men and those younger in age. Finally, 16.9% of the sample had a primary partner that consented to their Ashley Madison use and those with consenting partners reported greater perceived improvement in their primary relationship than did those with nonconsenting partners. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing the multitude of behaviors that Ashley Madison users participate in and whether consent was obtained. Implications for educators and practitioners are discussed.

Effects of dementia knowledge and dementia fear on comfort with people having dementia: Implications for dementia-friendly communities.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Advocates for dementia-friendly communities emphasize the need for the public to know about the dementias and to experience social comfort with people having dementia. This research tested a conceptual model of influences on social comfort, including two types of dementia knowledge and personal dementia fear. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: Data were collected from 645 Wisconsin residents through an online platform (Qualtrics®) and community outreach efforts. A hierarchical multiple regression was conducted and its results were mapped onto a figure representing the conceptual model of social comfort. RESULTS: Greater personhood-based knowledge (based on observations of the capabilities and perspectives of persons with dementia) and less personal dementia fear significantly predicted higher levels of social comfort, while biomedical knowledge did not. Although more personhood-based knowledge improved overall comfort regardless of the level of biomedical knowledge, people with higher levels of biomedical knowledge benefitted the most from having personhood-based knowledge. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: These findings suggest that activities that promote personhood-based knowledge may enhance social comfort. These activities may be most effective for individuals who already have a high level of biomedical knowledge about people with dementia. Community members and professionals ought to strike a balance between biomedical knowledge and personhood-based knowledge, as the two together may be associated with higher levels of social comfort. This could benefit the promotion of dementia-friendly community initiatives.

Stepping into their shoes: Reducing the actor-observer discrepancy in judgments of infidelity through the experimental manipulation of perspective-taking.

The goal of the current study was to examine whether perspective-taking could be an effective method for reducing the actor-observer bias seen in judgments of infidelity. Specifically, 708 adults judged the extent to which 32 behaviors were indicative of infidelity after being assigned to one of nine conditions in which the person engaging in infidelity (actor, partner, stranger) and the perspective-taking instructions (perspective-taking, stay objective, no instructions) were manipulated. Overall, the actor-observer and perspective-taking manipulations significantly affected judgments of the technology/online and solitary forms of infidelity. Adults in the perspective-taking condition judged their partner's and a stranger's technology/online behaviors as less indicative of infidelity than their own and their partner's solitary behaviors as more indicative of infidelity than their own or a stranger's. These results indicate that perspective-taking impacts infidelity judgments but only for certain behaviors. Implications and recommendations are outlined for clinicians and researchers working with and studying romantic couples.